The Only Things
by Autumn Skyie
Summary: As far as the battle scarred Ravenclaw could tell, she was alone among a battlefield full of corpses. The thought was not comforting.


**Summary:** As far as the battle scarred Ravenclaw could tell, she was alone among a battlefield full of corpses. The thought was not comforting.

**_WARNINGS!:_** Vague mention of many evil deeds, including death, rape, maiming, murder, and such. Oh, and a rather out of character Luna Lovegood.

**Disclaimer:** These characters do not belong to me in any way shape or form.

**Author's Note**: I've been sick for the last couple days, and as you can probably tell by this story, I've not been in the best of moods. Very un-cheerful. :P Good luck people. Hope this doesn't depress anyone too much.

Reviews are LOVED! :D

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**The Only Things**

At long last, the final battle was over. Both sides had lost heavily, however the extent of which, was not truly known until several days later. Luna stood upon the blood-drenched grass, and as she had done for the last five days, she tried to find some sign of life. Bodies indistinguishable as to their identities littered the grounds; they had long ago stopped bleeding. There was no movement, and as far as the battle scarred Ravenclaw could tell, she was alone among a battlefield full of corpses. The thought was not comforting.

Even the Nargles were nowhere to be found as she made her rounds, methodically checking each bloodied and sometimes charred mass of flesh for signs of life. Somewhere between the beginning of the battle and in that moment, they had disappeared- along with what could be everyone she had ever known.

She had found a couple charred remnants of Death Eaters masks, now dirtied with dirt, grime and dried blood, a startling contrast to the vivid memories she held of their original bone white colour. Something she remembered from that time in the Department of Ministries, but more so from the last time she had seen her father alive. He had come to the student section of Hogwarts, to try and whisk her away before the battle started. He never reached her as the Death Eaters had shown up, Voldemort in the lead. She and the rest of the DA had been rushing towards the Great Hall to confront the approaching enemy, when she had spotted a familiar figure through a window: her father. And just as quickly as she had identified him, a sickly green curse speed towards him, Luna remembered opening her mouth to scream out a warning, but it was too late. Her dear father's now lifeless body stilled for a moment, before crumpling lifelessly onto the ground. Luna felt her world fall away, along with her inhibitions. She now knew, that she would be able to use such vile curses as the enemy would throw, without a thought towards them. She would avenge her father- she had to.

Time trickled by slowly as the bright fluid light of enchantments, spells, hexes, jinxes and curses flew through the air. Fearlessly, Luna dodged, weaved and cast spells towards the enemy, sometimes she was brushed by a spell, but most often, she was not. She felt as though she had drunk a whole vat of Slughorn's luck potion, but sometimes even luck wasn't enough to save you.

She watched in a detached manner, as people she had grown up with were struck down, maimed, raped- slaughtered, and she did not pause. She couldn't, or else she would undoubtedly join their ranks. She had to keep moving, keep dodging, weaving and casting, it was her only hope. Surely everyone else knew this as well. Luna ran faster, trying in vain to evade the sights of the battlefield. She was out of breath, tired and weak. Another blast of adrenaline hit her. She had to keep going.

Things were beginning to quiet down around her, and still she rode upon the battle induced waves of adrenaline; pushing forward, onward, and past the line of attack and toward the center of the battle. From the corner of her eye, she saw a very battered Harry Potter battling an equally disadvantaged Voldemort. She could not stop and cheer her friend on, nor did the thought cross her mind. Her mission was to take out as many of the Death Eaters as possible, and so far she had done very well. Twelve dead, six maimed and left for death to claim them, and several others wounded, yes she had done well. But she had to keep going; had to keep dodging, weaving and casting; had to keep defending, killing, maiming... She had to keep going.

Her conscience screamed at her to stop, but she knew well that she could not listen. Surely she had avenged her father by now? But she had to keep going. All of the wizards and witches in Britain had come to Hogwarts, seeking safety, and all of the Death Eaters had come to destroy it. She had to defend them. Luna felt herself begin to tire once more, but trusted that another rush of adrenaline would soon follow- she was wrong. But despite this inconvenience, she had to keep going. She dodged and cast and weaved and ran, all the while white and gray dots blurred her vision. Blackness started to overwhelm her sight, meeting with the spots clouding her vision, and yet, she kept going; running an casting and weaving. Until finally, she collapsed upon the now vile soil. Her last thought: she had to keep going...

Luna woke up exhausted mentally and physically, the dread already starting to creep in. She had passed out on the battlefield, had she been captured by the enemy? How was it that she was still alive? Did they not realize that she was not dead? If so, she would have to continue to fool them. She had to keep going. It was torture not to move from her uncomfortable position, and breathing in small, quiet breaths was soon something she came to despise, but she had to do it. If not, she could die. The day wore on, and Luna did not stir, it was quiet around her, but she was not fooled. She would not be taken by them. She would spite them by living. She had to keep going.

That night, she did not sleep. She couldn't put herself at such a disadvantage again. She could not be vulnerable to attack while upon the battlefield once more. It would be her demise. Morning came, and still all was silent. She detected no movements around her, and even chanced opening her eyes a bit to take further note of the situation she was in. She found that she could not see much with the sun's light shining in her eyes. She shut them once more. The second day of waiting wore on, and still nothing had changed. Luna decided that if the situation remained stagnant, that by morning, she would make her move towards the castle. After all, she had to keep going.

The third morning came, and Luna was surprised to find that she had fallen asleep sometime throughout the night. Inwardly chastising herself, she strained her ears for any sound. It was deathly quiet. Nothing, not even the singing of the birds. Slowly, she opened her eyes and painfully, came to a sitting position. For the first time, Luna truly examined the remnants of what was once the grounds of Hogwarts. It was...devastating.

From the distance, Luna could see the tents that had housed the refugees, or rather what was left of them... They had been destroyed almost completely, a thin line of smoke rising from the mess of shredded canvas and gore. She felt a sick tugging upon her heart as a lump suddenly installed itself in her throat. She had seen no movement.

Desperately, she turned her gaze towards the Black Lake, only to find a sight possibly even more frightening: the water was a light pink, and bobbing upon the surface was the Giant Squid. Sickly, Luna wondered how much blood it had taken to stain the vast waters of the lake. Shivering, she turned her sights once more upon the squid. Even he did not move, though sickly streams of red seeped from what could only be deep gashes upon his sides. It seemed as though the Giant Squid had not survived.

Panic was now rising to extreme heights within her as she turned towards the Quidditch field. Again, there was no movement, thought there were some rather disturbing piles of what she could only assume to have once been wizards or witches. She was nauseous. Surely this was only a nightmare and she would wake up at any moment, safe and warm within her own bed. The very real pain she felt within her chest and across her body contradicted this though, and so she keep going. After all, what else was there to do?

This time, she turned her gaze upon the castle... Except the heaps of smoking rubble and timber that remained, could not be called a castle- but rather ruins. Hogwarts was destroyed. There was no movement, but that of the rising smoke of the dying fires. For it seemed as though even the fires, were want to follow what Luna was beginning to think, was the entirety of the Wizarding World into death. Surely there had to be survivors other than herself? And though she had evaded it for as long as possible, there was now only one last place to look: the main battlefield.

Forcing herself to turn her gaze onto that fearful stretch of land, where she had stood and fought only three days previous. Luna was saddly unsurprised to find no movement to greet her. Everything was red, charred and dirtied- dead. But she had to go on. Surely someone else had to be alive. Right? Five days later, she wasn't so certain. Luna had checked everywhere and everyone and had found nothing. Everyone was dead, and they smelled it too. She could not distinguish who was friend or foe, and somehow that comforted her. She did not know who had won the battle, them she supposed, as she was the only survivor, but what a shame.

She wanted to bury them- all of them, but she knew that it was an impossible venture. The whole of the British Wizarding World lay slain, awaiting burial, and she knew that she couldn't do it herself. She had known this when she realized, that she had lost her wand. At first she had figured that she could just use someone else's, but despite her searches, every single wand seemed to have gone missing. It was alomost as though something greater than them had caused this to happen to wipe them out. But they had failed, she was still alive. Or maybe that was part of their plan? Maybe she was going crazy? She did not know, but she had to keep going. Where, she did not know, but she couldn't stay here.

She began walking, carefully making her way through the ruins and bodies, towards her destination. Stopping a couple steps from the front gates, Luna stopped and turned back to look at the place she had once considered home, and for the first time since the battle began, Luna found herself crying. Slowly, she reached into a secret pocket inside the satchel upon her waist. There she found the three things, that she had considered essential when she had prepared to go to battle. They were exactly what she needed. First, was a small potion, that would satisfy your hunger and thirst, and suddenly realizing her need for it, she quickly drank it down. The second, was the necklace her mother had given her as a child before her death, which she put around her neck once more, and she felt safer than she had moments before. The third and final object was a small everlasting bottle of bubble formula and a small blowing stick, that her father had gifted her with that very summer. It was her favorite gift from him, as blowing bubbles had always reminded her of a simpler and happier time.

Slowly, Luna uncorked the small cap and wet the stick, and putting it to her lips, blew gently. She knew that she would have to leave this place soon, but for the moment, Luna stood alone, blowing bubbles into the wind, watching as they blew away from her, riding upon the chilly winds, until they eventually found their demise.

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**So you've all survived eh? I know that this is rather unrealistic, with Luna not realizing her hunger and thirst and everything, but I'd like to just point out that this is a fan fiction about a series of books centered around a wizard. ;P  
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**Reviews are lovely things. ;)  
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**~Autumn Skyie**


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